Trust Your Instincts

-1- Funeral

 It was a cold day considering it was mid-July, the leaves on the trees rustled restlessly as the cool wind whistled through the open grassy area. The clouds were thick and grey and threatened rain, but none came. For Mark, it was perfect weather for his current situation. 

 He stood in the dewy grass, straight backed and stony faced as they lowered the two coffins into the holes in the soft earth. His eyes didn't look at the black boxes once, beautiful and glossy, with gold patterning on the top, as if that mattered at all when the time came for the dirt to be piled on top. Instead he looked ahead, staring blankly at nothing in particular. He felt almost oblivious to the sobs and solemn chattering around him, they just sounded muffled, as if he were underwater, drowning in grief. He couldn't bring himself to cry, the tears had came in a flood in the days that led up to the funeral, now he only felt empty. The world was empty.

 Mark was the first to lift a handful of soil from the moist ground and throw it on top of the coffins. He didn't understand the tradition whatsoever, but he felt too weak to complain or challenge it, so he complied. Still no tears came. He was emotionless. His black hair was now in disarray from the force of the wind, he felt it spread unevenly across his forehead. For once he didn't care how people saw him. He looked up at the gravestones, freshly carved names in the smooth rectangular rock. He read the names multiple times, willing them to change, wishing for the letters to rearrange into unfamiliar names, but the more he stared, the harder it was to deny the truth. They were gone, their caskets sealed forever. He would never see his mother and brother again. Now he let a tear fall from his eye.

 After those that slightly knew his mother or brother had paid their condolences and offered their sympathy, Mark returned back home, the home he once loved. Aching from the constant standing and hand shaking and hollow embraces, he walked to the kitchen, but that only reminded him of his mother's love for cooking. He went into the garden, and remembered himself playing with his brother at games they had made up on the spot, most of which forgotten now. Mark was never the one with the good memory anyway, that had always been his brother. Every room in the house brought a rush of memories back to Mark nonetheless, once happy, but now spoiled, poisoned by the knowledge that he has nobody left to share them with. He couldn't stay there. There was no way. He picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialled. 

 "Hi dad." Mark managed to mumble, his voice thick with despair. "I've decided I'd like to accept your offer, if it still stands. I'd really love to live with someone. I can't live in this house, in this town. Alone."

 It wasn't hard saying goodbye to his other family members, they hardly visited anyway, and if they did, it was because they wanted something from him or his mother. Even after the deaths, they didn't come to see how he was doing, to see if he was coping, to lend a shoulder to cry on. As far as Mark was concerned, they had died with his mother and brother. 

 Leaving his friends behind was slightly harder, he tried to convince them that things wouldn't change, he would call frequently. They could still do video chats and play games together. To some extent, however, Mark knew he was lying to them and to himself, to make it seem a little less difficult to say goodbye. It would never be like it was. Wade cried, and Bob sulked. Heck, even Arin was getting emotional, but Mark had to do it, he had to go to California to live with his dad, to go to a new school. To start a new life, one that didn't leave him feeling empty inside.

___________

A/N. Hey! So this is my first ever story! I hope you guys liked that opening chapter and don't think it's lame or anything?? 

I'm not sure where I'm gonna go with this story but I have a few ideas that I'd like to try out! So thank you for reading this chapter, and if you want to continue, then I'll see you in the next A/N!! :D